Electricity consumers across the Philippines will remain protected from disconnection until October, giving households and businesses more time to settle unpaid bills during the national energy emergency.
The Energy Regulatory Commission ordered distribution utilities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao to suspend power cutoffs for unpaid bills covering August to October 2026. The protection applies to residential and non-residential consumers within the utilities’ captive markets.
Under the advisory, distribution utilities “shall suspend electricity service disconnections of residential and non-residential consumers in their captive markets for non-payment of electricity bills covering the period August 2026 to October 2026.”
Consumers will not immediately lose electricity for failing to pay bills incurred during the three-month period. The charges remain collectible, and the ERC urged customers who can pay on time to continue doing so.
Consumers using no more than 200 kilowatt-hours a month may defer covered bills and settle each amount over at least three months from receipt.
The balance will appear in succeeding billing statements. Distribution utilities must also provide “staggered or deferred payment schemes to ease the financial burden on consumers.”
The measures implement Executive Order No. 110, issued by President Bongbong Marcos on March 24, 2026. It declared a State of National Energy Emergency as conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran posed an “imminent threat to the availability and stability of the country’s energy supply.”
The ERC earlier suspended disconnections for bills covering May through July 2026. The latest extension carries the protection through October as the emergency pressures household and business finances.
Generation companies, PSALM, NPC, TRANSCO, NGCP, independent power producers, their administrators, and the market operator must extend deferred terms to distribution utilities.
Utilities must segregate collections to determine amounts owed to power suppliers, which may also be settled over at least three months. Distribution utilities must submit compliance reports to the ERC by October 30, 2026.
